During the 9th annual National Clean Energy Week, Gina Mahony, managing director at Cogent, moderated the “smart brevity” panel entitled: Ready, Set, Grow: Preparing Energy Infrastructure for Tomorrow.   

In this format, Gina interviewed each panelist for just over 10 minutes, getting to the heart of their work, outlook and what they think the future holds. Panelists included Abigail Ross Hopper, President & CEO, Solar Energy Industries Association Ray Long, President & CEO, American Council on Renewable Energy, Tom Falcone, President, Large Public Power Council and Rob Mosher, Vice President of Government Affairs, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America. The panel highlighted the role that policy, industry, finance and government can play in meeting these growing needs.  

Together, they discussed how abundant, affordable and reliable energy is critical for economic growth, innovation and national security. With a focus on rising energy demand, panelists talked about how industries are readying our energy infrastructure for tomorrow.  

Abigail Ross Harper with SEIA noted the value of solar and how its storage chain is used across all market segments. She also discusses electric vehicles, grid technologies and manufacturers, developers, bankers, and how they deal with regulatory burdens.  

Ray Long with ACORE focused on hyperscalers, data centers and the energy that will be needed to power both. With a focus on solar, wind and other renewables, Ray expanded on the value proposition of many renewables and talked about how it’s necessary to loop all energy technologies into an all-of-the-approach to energy creation. One item in particular Ray touched on was aluminum, saying aluminum needs electricity in order to be built, but most of the aluminum that we get is imported from Ontario. 

Tom Falcone with The Large Public Power Council noted the importance of utilities. There are 2,000 public power utilities in the United States that provide electricity to about 50 million customers. His group represents 29 of those 2,000 utilities that own roughly 90% of the assets. Tom touched on how important modernizing the nation’s permitting system would be for utilities, saying that he’s working with Treasury to update a regulation because it really prohibits his organizations from making smart strategic investments. He stated his goal is simple: more energy at lower costs.   

Finally, Rob Mosher, the vice president of government affairs for the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, who represents the midstream portion of the natural gas value chain, discussed the value of pipelines when it comes to natural gas. With 29 member companies who collectively have over 200,000 miles of interstate natural gas pipeline infrastructure in North America, he talked about how his seven members possess LNG export facilities and what that meant for the economy.